Alberto Ríos
Alberto Álvaro Ríos (born 1952) is a Chicano American poet and academic. Life Youth Rìos was born in 1952 in Nogales, Arizona, a town straddling the U.S.-Mexican border. Ríos spoke both Spanish and English as a child. His father was born in Mexico and his mother in England. Ríos' poems echo this multicultural upbringing. As a child, teachers punished him for speaking Spanish in school. He and other bilingual classmates wrote notes in Spanish and left them in the trashcan for each other to find. It was considered "bad" and he forgot how to speak the language for a time. His poem "Nani" describes an encounter with his Spanish speaking grandmother and his inability to communicate with her. They find other ways to identify with each other, through body language and food. Ríos started writing in the 3rd grade, although he referred to it as "daydreaming". It was a secret act, like speaking Spanish. He did not think his friends or family would understand him, so he kept his writings hidden in the backs of his school notebooks. He did not share his poems with anyone until high school, when a teacher recognized his talent and introduced him to writers like Lawrence Ferlinghetti. It was also around that time that Ríos recovered his lost Spanish tongue, although the stigma of speaking it remained with him, memories of being "swatted" by his teacher. Rops studied literature at the University of Arizona, where he graduated in 1974 with a B.A. and a year later with a degree in psychology. He studied law for a brief period, but returned to the University of Arizona to pursue creative writing, where he earned an M.F.A. in 1979. Career Rios has authored nine books and chapbooks of poetry, three collections of short stories, and a memoir. His work is regularly taught and translated, and has been adapted to dance to both classical and popular music. He is a Regents' professor of English at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, where he started teaching creative writing in 1982. Rios married Lupita (Barron) in 1979. He and his wife reside in Chandler, Arizona. They have a son, Joaquin, who is a graduate of the Sandra Day O'Connor School of Law at Arizona State University. Recognition Ríos is the recipient of the Western Literature Association Distinguished Achievement Award, the Arizona Governor's Arts Award, fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, the Walt Whitman Award, the Western States Book Award for Fiction, and 6 Pushcart Prizes in both poetry and fiction. His writing has been included in the Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry and over 300 other national and international literary anthologies. At the request of Governor-elect Janet Napolitano, Ríos wrote and delivered a poem at Arizona's gubernatorial inauguration in 2003. In 2013, Ríos was named the inaugural state poet laureate of Arizona. In 2014, he was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.Alberto Rios, Poets.org, Academy of American Poets. Web, Jan. 25, 2015. Awards and prizes *2002 finalist for the National Book Award *2002 recipient of the Western Literature Association's Distinguished Achievement Award *Arizona Governor's Arts Award *Guggenheim Foundation fellowship *National Endowment for the Arts fellowship *Walt Whitman Award *Outstanding Latino/a Cultural Award in Literary Arts or Publications, AAHHE, 2004 *Western States Book Award for Fiction *6 Pushcart Prizes both poetry and fiction *selected as a 2005 Historymaker by the Arizona History Society's Museum, a Smithsonian affiliate, at Papago Park, Tempe, Arizona Publications Poetry *''Elk Heads on the Wall''. Berkeley, CA: Chicano Studies Program, University of California San José, 1979. *''Sleeping on Fists''. Story, WY: Dooryard Press, 1981. *''Whispering to Fool the Wind: Poems''. New York: Sheep Meadow Press, 1982. *''Five Indiscretions: A book of poems''. Riverdale-on-Hudson, NY: Sheep Meadow Press, 1985. *''The Lime Orchard Woman: Poems''. Riverdale-on-Hudson, NY: Sheep Meadow Press, 1988. *''The Warrington Poems''. Tempe, AZ: Pyracantha Press / Arizona State University School of Art, 1989. *''Teodoro Luna's Two Kisses: Poems''. New York: Norton, 1990. *''The Man Who Became Old''. Tucson, AZ: Kore Press, 1994. *''The Smallest Muscle in the Human Body''. Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon Press, 2002. *''The Theater of Night''. Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon Press, 2005. *''The Dangerous Shirt''. Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon Press, 2009. Short fiction *''The Iguana Killer: Twelve stories of the heart''. Lewiston, ID: Blue Moon / Confluence Press, 1984. *''Pig Cookies, and other stories''. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1995. *''The Curtain of Trees: Stories''. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 1999. Non-fiction *''Capirotada: A Nogales memoir''. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 1999. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Alberto Rios, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Jan. 25, 2015. Audio / video *''Alberto Rios'' (cassette). Kansas City, MO: University of Missouri, 199-?. See also * List of Chicano poets * List of U.S. poets References External links ;Poems *"Coffee in the Afternoon" at Poetry 180 * "Mi Abuelo" at Poem of the Day *"The Cities Inside Us" at Poetry Out Loud * Alberto Alvaro Ríos profile & 9 poems at the Academy of American Poets. * Alberto Ríos b. 1952 at the Poetry Foundation *Alberto Rios at PoemHunter (11 poems) ;Audio / video *Alberto Rios at YouTube ;Books *Alberto Rios at Amazon.com ;About *"A Short Biography." *Alberto Rios at eNotes *"The Artist Citizen: An interview with Alberto Alvaro Rios, Equinox, 1992 *Twenty-four Questions: A conversation with Alberto Rios, 2001 *An interview with Alberto Rios at AARP, 2007 Category:1952 births Category:Living people Category:American people of Mexican descent Category:American writers of Mexican descent Category:American people of English descent Category:Arizona State University faculty Category:American academics Category:American poets Category:American short story writers Category:American memoirists Category:University of Arizona alumni Category:Guggenheim Fellows Category:People from Nogales, Arizona Category:People from Chandler, Arizona Category:20th-century poets Category:21st-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:Spanish-language poets Category:Poets Category:Chicano poets